Team Kage
by PyrothTenka
Summary: After the battle with Madara and the Juubi, a fierce argument starts between Naruto and Sasuke over who will become the next Hokage when Tsunade brings up a startling complication. They're both still Genin.
1. After

**That A/N I put at the beginning of all my stories to apologize for being crazy: ** I'm not actually starting a new story here, I just had this sitting in my documents and Duesal Bladesinger, Igornerd, and Blaizekit convinced me I should post it. Maybe after I finish M:TABD I'll do something more with it, but for now, enjoy the beginnings of what promises to be some S-rank crazy.

And sorry for being crazy. D: Warning: Probably laced with at least a little bit of crack, this story. XD But probably no more than the original series is.

* * *

**Chapter One: After**

"Tsunade obaa-chan!" A familiar voice shouted, making the fifth Hokage growl in annoyance and her ANBU guards stiffen as an orange blur appeared on the window. She turned a glare on him, but Naruto ignored it, stepping into the room without waiting for permission. "I'm your heir, right? Tell that teme I'm next in line after you and he can wait for me to kick the bucket!"

"Hmph, like anyone would put a dobe like you in charge," another voice retorted, making Tsunade and her bodyguards jump as they whirled to face the previously unnoticed presence of Uchiha Sasuke seemingly melt from the shadows in the corner.

_Damn ninjas,_ Tsunade muttered in her head, _they'll be the death of me. _Out loud she said, "Naruto, stop calling me that! And you two, quit coming into my office unannounced!"

"Eh? But it's just Gaara and Shikamaru's girlfriend. Hi Gaara!"

The Kazekage nodded in greeting, "Naruto."

The girl beside him stiffened, and Tsunade fought the urge to facepalm as the sand kunoichi turned red and exploded. "I told you we're not- We're just working together to organized the Chunin exams!"

Tsunade closed her eyes as she tried to think up the best way to get rid of the two that had been dogging her since the day after the fight with Madara. It seemed they were in her office every day to name one of them her successor. She was half tempted to retire right then and there and see which one survived the paperwork. Nah, it was probably too unprofessional to retire and start a succession crisis in the middle of a meeting with the Kazekage. Not that Gaara had ever been one to care about that sort of thing.

Around her she could hear the two's argument heating up as the sand siblings looked on in mild curiosity. The third sibling would have also been there, but had been... kidnapped as soon as the village children had been made aware of his presence.

She wished she had a nice S-class mission she could send them on, something Naruto couldn't just send a kage bunshin out to do while he stayed here and pestered her. Unfortunately she didn't. She sighed inwardly. All she wanted to do was finish the final executive decisions required of her before passing the Chunin exams onto the other chunin to handle.

It was then that the idea came to her. It was the desperate idea of a woman at the end of her rope, but it was there. An evil, sadistic, _brilliant, _idea. She managed to keep her maniacal laughter inside her head but couldn't resist steepling her fingers with malicious intent.

"You know, Naruto," she began, instantly earning the attention of everyone in the room, "you're absolutely right."

"I am?"

"Oh, yes. It is way past time I named a successor." Never mind the fact that she couldn't actually do that. As she'd repeatedly tried to explain to him, Hokages were elected by the council, not chosen by her; though her consideration would be taken into account. It wasn't her fault he hadn't listened to her.

"Yes!" Naruto cheered.

_Oh, don't cheer yet,_ she mused. "It's just too bad I can't seem to find anyone qualified."

The moment of silent shock in the room was almost as priceless as the look on Naruto's face. It took him almost a whole fifteen seconds before he could find his voice. "Are you going senile, old hag? I'm right here! Me!"

Sasuke snorted but otherwise remained in broody silence.

"I'm sorry, Naruto, but you don't qualify. For the same reason Sasuke doesn't," the Godaime explained. Enjoying the baffled looks exchanged between the two, she went on. "You're both still Genin."

This time the silence lasted only a second before Temari laughed. "No way! That's just... you guys never passed the chuunin exam?"

"Hey! I was busy training!" Naruto protested. Sasuke didn't say anything but Tsunade could tell by the scowl on his face, he didn't think he was going to like where this conversation was headed.

"Still," Tsunade interrupted again, "this is easy enough to fix."

"You're giving us a promotion?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"Sure."

"Yes!"

"Just as soon as you pass your chuunin exam."

"What?! Obaa-chan, that's not fair!"

Tsunade smirked as she raised an eyebrow. "And promoting you out of the blue while every other genin in the village has to take the exam is?"

"But... but..." Naruto sputtered, glancing around at the other occupants of the room for help. "We're like the strongest ninja in the village!"

"All the more reason you should be ashamed of yourself for not passing the exam sooner. Honestly. I'm sure Madara and Pain are rolling in their graves right now at having been defeated by a genin."

Naruto scowled as he tried to think up another argument. "Oi, Sasuke-teme, say something!"

"Hmph," The Uchiha replied, "If this is what it takes to become Hokage..."

"Yeah! You're right. We'll take your stupid test, old hag! And we're going to ace it!"

"Great. Good luck finding a third genin for your team who isn't already in one." That should keep them out of her hair for a while. Leaving the two of them to puzzle over the dilemma of finding their third teammate, she turned back to the Kazekage in hopes of getting some real work done. Temari seemed to have other things on her mind.

"Actually," the blonde kunoichi spoke up, tapping her lips thoughtfully and giving her brother a sly look. "Now that you mention it, Hokage-sama, Gaara never passed the exams either."

The sand user shot her a sharp look that would have had her quailing in fear just a few years before, but now merely caused her to blink back at him in feigned innocence. She had a good twelve years of big sister annoying-ness to catch up on, and this seemed like a golden opportunity.

"Really?" Naruto asked, his face lighting up hopefully.

Gaara turned his gaze back toward his blonde friend and inclined his head ever so slightly. "Yes."

"Great! Then that makes three! The chuunin exams won't even know what hit them!" Naruto cheered

"Naruto!" Tsunade barked out, scandalized. "You _can't_ have the _Kazekage_ on your team for the chuunin exam!"

"Why not? You just said it wasn't fair to everyone else to allow people to skip the exam! How can he be a fair leader if he ignores the rules? This way his people can trust him more!"

Tsunade scowled back at him for twisting her logic back on her and scrambled for another argument. "He's the Kazekage, and, as such, not my jurisdiction. How Suna handles rank promotion is up to them and I won-"

"I'll do it," Gaara interrupted. "Naruto is right. I will not ask something of my people I would not ask of myself."

Giving up on hiding her irritation, Tsunade sank down into her chair and began massaging her temples. "You... are you even aware of the political ramifications?"

She was ignored, however, when an over-excited orange blur rushed forward to link one arm with Gaara's, and other other with Sasuke's before dragging them both out of her office; all the while babbling some nonsense about how he had the best team ever in the history of ever. Even if one of them was Sasuke-teme.

Tsunade stared after them with something of a mix between horror and awe. What had she just unleashed upon those poor unsuspecting genin?

* * *

**A/N (The real one): ** There you go. S-rank crazy ftw. I love Gaara... Poor Tsunade...

Chapter two is already mostly written and I have a few days off of work. Maybe I'll be able to finish it? XD

You guys will be surprised who ends up being their Jounin sensei. X3

**Story Rec (because I can and my list of stories to rec is getting longish):**

**Kitsune** by **EmptySurface** \- I already put one of his stories up in M:TABD, but this one is really good too! I"ll just post the summary because I'm trying to hurry up and post this and go get stuff done:

"When finding himself stranded in the past, what is a man supposed to do? Surrounded by old friends who are younger than you remember, and without anyone to lean on, life becomes a challenge. Will he be able to forge new friendships and change the course of the future, to prevent the blood soaked world he came from? Failure equals death and mindless destruction. Time-travel."

It's awesome, and I love this guy's(girl's? Sorry, I don't know your gender. DX) writing style. Hasn't been updated in a few months, but still worth checking out. :3

-Py


	2. Before

**Super awesome betas who may have been laughing too hard to actually catch all of my mistakes: Igornerd, Blaizekit, Duesal Bladesinger**

**Chapter Two: Before**

The day of the chuunin exams came far too slowly for Tsunade's liking. It was true Naruto and Sasuke were no longer pestering her to name an heir, but that was hardly any relief when it came with the abduction of the Kazekage. The only reason there hadn't yet been an international incident was because Temari, the starter of all the trouble as far as the Hokage was concerned, had explained everything to her brother. Together, the two of them had managed to soothe the Kazekage's guards.

It had been a nerve-wracking four days, during which the three had disappeared off of the face of the Earth. If they didn't show up to this chuunin exam, there was a very real prospect of a war with Suna on their hands. If they didn't show up, Tsunade was going to hunt them down and tear them apart limb from limb.

It was with such thoughts in mind that the Hokage paced in front of the window looking out over the academy entrance to the exam registration. Beneath her she watched the various Genin assemble for the exam. There were a few familiar faces but mostly she waited for the tell-tale blonde spiky hair. It was not Tsunade, however, who spotted them first.

"NARUTO!" an angry voice shouted, causing all the genin to turn their heads and watch an irate pink-haired jounin storm up to the approaching genin in bright orange. It was comical to watch as the blonde cowered behind his smaller, red-headed teammate.

"Gaara! Save me! She's gonna kill me 'ttebayo!"

The human shield barely spared his cowering companion a glance before nodding amicably to the jounin kunoichi. "Sakura."

"Hi, Gaara-san," Sakura greeted him sweetly, her face morphing from murderous to cheerful as if some sort of switch had been flipped. "Would you mind terribly stepping aside so that I might have a few words with my ex-teammates, please?"

Dark-ringed green eyes regarded her for a moment of consideration before giving the girl another nod and taking one purposeful step to the side, exposing the blonde behind him.

Quick as a snake, Sakura's hands whipped out to snag Sasuke's and Naruto's earlobes. Heedless of the bewildered looks they were receiving from the genin around them, the pink-haired girl dragged the two boys along behind her as she ducked back into the building. Gaara followed after them.

"Okay," Sakura began, having dragged them into an unused classroom on the upper level and placed a privacy seal on the door. "What's this I hear about you entering the chuunin exams?!"

Naruto rubbed his ear surreptitiously, as he eyed her warily for signs of another attack. "Tsunade obaasan said I can't become Hokage as a genin, so I'm taking the exams. I need a team of three and Sasuke-teme and Gaara never passed either, so... here we are."

"Sensei _allowed_ this?!" Sakura gasped incredulously.

"Of course!" Naruto replied. "It was her idea!"

The door slid open, and in strode the Hokage as well as two teams of ANBU. One squad went to go stand by Gaara. "Kazekage-sama. Are you alright?"

"I am fine," the sand-nin answered in his typical monotone. "I will not require guards for the remainder of the exam duration. Your orders are to look after my siblings until they are over. Dismissed."

It was a sign of how well-trained they were that they made no protest before disappearing on their new assignment. Tsunade dismissed her own ANBU with a gesture and turned to regard the teens with a frown. "You guys are serious about this?"

She only waited long enough for them to nod before continuing. "Then I need to lay down some ground rules."

"Why do _we_ get extra rules?" Naruto demanded, scowling unhappily.

"Because as future Hokage, you won't mind being held to a higher standard than everyone else," she snapped back at him. "Now first, I know that usually deaths in the exams aren't exactly uncommon. However, if any genin die before the final exam, your team will automatically fail."

"You expect us to keep them from killing each other?" Sasuke asked with a grimace.

"And I expect you to do it without the other teams realizing they're being looked after."

Gaara nodded in comprehension. "I see. This is practice for being Hokage, a protector of their village, while still maintaining the exam's life threatening atmosphere. I agree to this rule."

"Oh, alright," Naruto conceded. "Not like I would have let anyone die anyway. Now I just gotta make extra sure."

Sasuke made a noise that sounded vaguely like a 'if the dobe can do it, I can do it better.' He was good at non-verbal, monosyllabic speaking.

"Good," Tsunade said, moving on to the next rule. "Second, you can't eliminate any more teams than absolutely necessary for you to pass. I already know you could quite possibly knock out every other team in the second, if not first, exam. Just because you guys are S-class power houses doesn't mean everyone else shouldn't have a chance to pass. Since you're aiming to become Hokage, I hope you can see the wisdom of this and use good judgement accordingly."

The last part was aimed specifically at the two leaf-nins but Gaara nodded along with them anyway. He was a part of the team, the rules applied to him as well as far as he was concerned.

Tsunade took another few moments to try and think up anything else that needed to be covered, but nothing else came to mind. She sighed. "There may be more rules added as the exams progress, but for now... you guys may proceed."

She turned and left with a grumpy mutter to herself, "I need a drink..."

* * *

The first obstacle on their path almost proved too much for the team of living legends.

"Whaaaaaat, this is ridiculous, dattebayo!"

"Hn."

"Registration ends in five minutes."

"I know, Gaara, I can see the clock right there!"

"Then what's your plan, dobe?"

"I don't- Just let me think, alright!"

"Think faster, idiot."

"Teme-! I don't see _you_ coming up with- Oh, hey, Gaara, don't you have anyone that could...?"

"No. All of my subordinates are otherwise preoccupied or too far away."

"Right, right...," the blonde let out a frustrated huff as he ran a hand through his messy hair and turned to scan the room for something, _anything_, that might help them. He ignored the looks of utter bafflement -and in the case of some of the brighter ones, dawning horror- on the genin around them, and, just as he was about to think their cause hopeless, he spotted her.

There, standing against a backdrop of light that almost seemed to make her glow with divine radiance, stood the pink-haloed answer to his prayers. His face split into a wide grin.

Sasuke noticed the expression and, when he'd followed Naruto's gaze and drawn the same conclusion, he hissed, "No! We are not that desperate!"

"Four minutes."

"Yes, Sasuke, we really _are_ that desperate," the blonde replied, then stepped forward. "Sakura-chan!" he called out in the most charming voice he could muster.

The kunoichi straightened from where she had been scolding a pair of genin for scuffling in the halls to fix her ex-teammate with a wary look. The two errant shinobi took that opportunity to slink off, but she hardly noticed as she watched the teens approach.

"Have I ever told you how beautiful you are lately? How much of an amazing medic you are and how-"

"What do you want, Naruto," she interrupted him flatly. It wasn't a question so much as a demand. Her expression made it clear that he'd better get to the point quickly or else.

"Eheheh... well, you see... we ran into a bit of a problem trying to register our team, and I was wondering if you could help us with it?" He fixed her with his most adorable puppy dog eyes as he handed her their registration form, pointing to one line in particular.

Her expression turned to one of puzzlement as she read the form, then to a frown, then realization. When she glanced up at the blonde with an 'are-you-serious?' look and received a 'dead-serious' confirmation in return, she burst out laughing. As in, doubled over, had to use the wall beside her for support and could barely breathe, laughing. "You...! Want me to...! AHAHAHA-!"

"Three minutes."

"Yes, it's hilarious," Naruto spoke quickly, rolling his eyes. "We're in a hurry here, so yes or no?"

It took her several moments to contain her mirth, and every second that passed made Naruto fidget, and Sasuke's scowl to deepen. Gaara seemed the least affected, yet his gaze never wavered from the clock.

After what felt like an eternity, though it had to have been less than a minute or Gaara would have said something, Sakura straightened and sighed, looking at them thoughtfully. "I don't know... that sounds like an awfully big responsibility..."

Naruto groaned at her exaggeratedly slow words. "Oh, come on!"

"Well! If you're going to be that way about it, I'm sure I don't want such troublesome genin!"

"Two minutes."

"No! I'm sorry, I'll be good 'ttebayo!" Naruto pleaded, an edge of hysteria to his voice. "Come on, guys, help me out here!"

Sasuke looked like he'd swallowed something terribly unpleasant before schooling his features. "Sakura, we need you. Would you please be our Jounin-sensei?"

Even Gaara broke eye contact with the clock to fix her with a serious look. "We would be extremely grateful for your assistance in this."

Sakura actually blinked in surprise. That was... unexpected; they must have been really desperate. Huh, she wondered what she could get out of them for this. "Oh, alright-"

"YES! YOU'RE THE BEST, I LOVE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW!" Naruto shouted, wrapping her in a tight hug.

"BUT-!" Sakura was quick to interrupt, "You have to address me accordingly."

"Yosh, Sakura-sensei!" Naruto obeyed immediately.

Gaara inclined his head, "Sakura-sensei."

They both looked at Sasuke who reluctantly muttered a quiet, "Sakura-sensei."

Sakura smiled cheerfully. "And of course you realize that, as your superior officer, you will have to obey all my orders, correct?"

"So long as it does not conflict with my duties as Kazekage, yes," Gaara replied, the first to answer this time.

"Oh, I didn't mean you, Gaara, I meant these miscreants. Thank you, though," Sakura quickly assured him. She was just teasing her ex-teammates, she didn't actually presume to boss the Kazekage around.

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged uncertain glances, and the redhead resumed staring at the clock.

"Thirty seconds."

_That_ spurred Naruto to action. "Yes, of course, I'll do whatever you say! Just sign already, dattebayo!" At her raised eyebrow, he hastily added, "Please, Sakura-sensei?"

"What about you, Sasuke-kun?" she asked, ignoring the paper the blonde was holding out to her and turning to the brunette with deceptively sweet smile.

Sasuke glared at her. He disliked being patronized.

"Fifteen seconds."

Of course, he disliked being a genin even more.

"Fine. Sakura-sensei," he bit out, only a slight pause before he remembered to add the last part.

"Yay! My first genin team! Make me proud, boys," she chirped, signing the paper with relish.

Before the ink had even had time to dry, Naruto snatched the paper and flashed across the room to slam it on the registration desk "Are we on time?!" he demanded anxiously.

The chunin kunoichi eyed the new hand-shaped dent in the desk disapprovingly before carefully lifting the paper and making a big show of examining it carefully. She then placed it neatly on the stack with the others and glanced up at the blonde. "Yes. You may proceed."

"YES!" Naruto cheered, pumping his fist and heading through the double doors. "First exam, here we come!"

Their new jounin sensei watched them go before turning around and humming happily to herself. "Let's see... what can I make Sasuke and Naruto do, hm?"

And that is how Haruno Sakura became jounin sensei to an S-rank genin team.

* * *

**A/N** \- Phew, chapter two done. Sorry to say, but you probably won't get another chapter to this for a while. :S M:TABD takes precedence and I really don't have time to do both at once. Maybe I'll try to take a weekend off of M:TABD every once in a while and write this? I don't know. Depends on the response to it I guess? XD

Oh! So, I have a small dilemma. I need about thirty genin OC's, and really don't want to make them all by myself. -_- SO! Who wants to make some genin OC's for me? Eh? Eh? I pretty much need a name, village, combat styles, and maybe some background if you're feeling up to it. Bloodline limits are okay, within reason, different strength levels would be nice... I reserve the right to change anything about them to make them fit better in the story... also they may be knocked out of the exam at any point in time. XD

Anyway, if you feel like sharing a genin OC with me, I'd be much obliged. :3

**Story Rec** -  
**I can teach you if you want **by **Got a jar of dirt - **"A few simple sentences can change a persons life; for better or for worse. Kakashi utters one of these simple sentences to a five year old Naruto in a chance meeting. How will this effect both their lives and the shinobi world as a whole? Brotherly!Kakashi, Believably Strong / Smart Naruto." Adorable. I love Kakashi in this one. XD

-Py


	3. The First Exam

Lovely awesome amazing beta: Monster Cat Music Girl with assistance from Igornerd and Duesal Bladesinger

**Chapter 3: The First Exam**

The first thing Sakura did with her new found sensei-dom, was to head down to the jounin observation lounge. It was a wonderful place filled with snacks, coffee and observation screens for the jounin-sensei to discreetly watch their charges and brag to other jounin about how much more awesome theirs were than everyone else's.

Which was precisely what she found Kiba doing when she entered and took a quiet seat nearby. The jounin from the other villages were off in their own groups, cautiously eyeing everyone as potential threats. The Inuzuka, however, was up on the table loudly proclaiming the virtues of his genin team, Akamaru punctuating each remark with a bark.

"5,000 ryou on my team making it to the finals! Anyone who says otherwise better put their money where their mouth is!"

A chuunin in the corner jotted down his bet on the chalkboard that had been brought in to keep track of the betting pools. Betting was a time honored tradition, apparently. Something about keeping the foreign jounin occupied and out of trouble. Sakura wasn't sure she agreed, but in this case she was glad for it.

"I'll match your bet, dog breath," an Iwa kunoichi spoke up from across the room. "5,000 on my team for the finals!"

"Me too for mine," someone from grass added.

Sakura took this chance to place her own. "Uhm, even though I'm not very confident in my team since I only just picked them up... I'd like to bet 10,000 ryou on my cute little genin."

Ino whipped her head around to stare at her in shock, nearly hitting the poor Kumo jounin that had been chatting her up with her ponytail. "You got a team, forehead?"

"Yeah, just now. They were outside without a jounin sensei and Tsunade-shishou gave them permission to enter so I offered to fill the part. Care to wager, Ino-pig?" she arched an eyebrow in challenge.

Ino wasn't fooled for a second. She knew a bluff when she saw one, _especially_ a bluff from Sakura and _extra especially_ when the pink-haired girl was making no effort to hide it from her. However, clearly her best friend was up to something, and clearly she wanted her help.

She sent a silent, _'halfsies on your winnings?'_ offer via best friend eye talk, and when she got a confirmation, her mouth split into a smirk. "You're on, billboard brow! 10,000 _against _Pinky's team even making it past the first exam!"

'_You're totally footing that, by the way,'_ she added in a glance back at her friend.

As a chorus of voices echoed the blonde's bet, Sakura reassured her, _'Not a problem. Trust me.'_

Well, this would certainly prove to be interesting. What was her bestie up to this time?

* * *

Izumo and Kotetsu were at their usual post outside the genjutsu'd door that was made up to be the mock first examination room. A herd of genin were around them and they were soaking up the attention and chance to beat on the little morons.

At least, that was until a familiar mop of blonde spikes showed up with his equally famous brunette and redheaded companions. No. No way.

They didn't even give Naruto a chance to speak before Kotetsu jabbed a thumb over his shoulder and down the hallway. "Keep walking, Blondie. Don't you dare ruin our fun."

Naruto paused in the act of speaking, thinking it over for a moment before sighing and doing as requested. Sasuke rolled his eyes and followed, while the Kazekage showed no reaction at all.

They did get a few stares from the genin however, most of which wondering what the trio of living legends were doing at their chuunin exams. The ones that had seen the three signing up however, blanched in horror as their fears were confirmed.

To their credit, only two of those teams chose to quit on the spot.

* * *

Shikamaru refrained from letting out a sigh as the noisy genin around him shuffled nervously and whispered amongst themselves about that strange teen sleeping on the proctor's desk. Idiots. Underestimating him already? He was hardly even trying to pretend to be asleep; he hadn't even slowed his heart rate or breathing.

Troublesome.

He'd already compiled a mental list of those that were going to pass and those who weren't, though there was a third column he'd dedicated to Naruto-like cases. Where he wasn't sure if they were brilliant or just incredibly stupid. Those ones were too difficult to predict to be sure if they would pass or not.

A particularly obnoxious duo had come up with the brilliant idea of using Shikamaru as kunai target practice. 'To see if he was alive' they'd said, even though it was obvious he was breathing. He made a note to take extra special care to disqualify those two.

He had a timer going in his head, and the actual exam was due to start in two minutes. Anyone not in the doors before then were disqualified.

The doors slammed open with a bang, and an oh-so familiar voice shouted, "Uzumaki Naruto reporting for the first exam, dattebayo! Eh? Shikamaru?! You're the proctor?!"

Screw two minutes, the exam started now; before Naruto ruined all of his element of surprise.

He pooled more chakra into the shadows at his feet, and lazily raised his head to prop on one elbow. He blinked in false bleariness at the blond and his two companions (Seriously? Who's crazy idea was _that_?!) and yawned. "Hmm, Naruto? What are you doing here?"

Oh, Shikamaru already knew, but he was using the question to distract his old classmate from giving away the dark tendrils now crawling stealthily across the floor. Fortunately there were 'decorative' hangings on the ceiling casting shadows to help disguise them; but Naruto was off and on a sensor, depending on how much nature chakra he had in his system. Chances were, he'd sensed them.

His suspicion was confirmed when he saw the blond's gaze flicker toward the shadows before coming back to him with a wide, proud grin on his face. "Baa-chan says that I gotta take the exam if I want to be promoted, so, here I am! Sasuke and Gaara too."

Setting aside the logistical knot of the Hokage ordering the Kazekage to take the chuunin exams (he was pretty sure he'd get a headache if he even tried and just wrote it off as 'Naruto did it') Shikamaru focused on dealing with situation at hand instead of puzzling out all the details.

"Hmm, well, if Hokage-sama ordered it...," Shikamaru said with a shrug. "I suppose we should start the exam now? Normally I'd give you some written test or something, but that sounds so troublesome... Instead, all you have to do is touch my desk."

Ignoring the protests and questions of incredulity, the Nara let his head fall back down onto his arms and went back to 'sleeping'.

Immediately about half a dozen genin surged forward, and just as quickly were frozen in place. It was a watered down version of his clan's technique, it didn't force them to copy him and it was easier to break, but it was enough to paralyze them. The shadow-user hadn't twitched so much as an eyelash, leaving the rest to wonder _how_ he'd stopped them.

Naruto laughed. "You're evil, Shika."

"I never claimed to be nice," came the muffled reply. "Time limit is a half hour."

That spurred a couple more into action that the examiner easily captured. They still hadn't figured out the trick of it yet, but Shikamaru figured it was only a matter of time. Then the real test would begin.

He felt more than saw the surge of chakra as Naruto leapt to the ceiling then to the desk at lightning fast speeds, nearly destroying the wooden furnishing in the process. It would have been more impressive if Shikamaru had had even the slightest inkling of stopping him. He'd run through all those scenarios, and any that stopped the jinchuuriki and had even a small chance of succeeding were far too much effort. Naruto could have walked right up to his desk for all the Nara cared.

"Yosh! I pass, right?!"

The shadow-user peeled one eye open to glare at the blond in annoyance. "Yes, you pass. This portion. You and your team can move on to the next room."

"What?! You're not going to make Teme do it too?"

"No. Worst-case scenario: he destroys this building and possibly a good chunk of the village. Kazekage-sama's worst-case is not much better. You three pass, now get out of my classroom."

A few genin tried to copy Naruto's maneuver, walking up the walls and across the ceiling. Without the blond's speed though, Shikamaru easily snared them before they'd made it halfway up the wall.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at his old classmate with suspicion. "Isn't that against the rules, 'ttebayo?"

"I _made_ the rules. Go, or I'll fail you for not following instructions."

By this time Sasuke and Gaara had already made their way to the front. Like with Naruto, Shikamaru made no effort to stop them. The Uchiha rolled his eyes as he grabbed his teammate's arm and began pulling him toward the door. "Take the easy pass, idiot."

Still scowling, the blond jumped down off the desk and shrugged out of the Uchiha's grasp. "... just 'cause he knows we'd kick his-"

"I _can_ still hear you," Shikamaru interrupted his muttering. "And it's not too late for me to fail you, if you'd prefer."

Sasuke didn't give Naruto a chance to reply as he clamped a hand over his mouth and shoved him through the door. Gaara followed along after them as if this were perfectly normal.

The Nara gave a mental sigh of relief. He'd wanted to get those three out of there before the fireballs started flying once the Genin thought to suspect the shadows. Speaking of which, unless he'd seriously overestimated their intelligence, they should be starting right about-

FWOOOSH.

-now. Yep. This was going to be troublesome. Still, it was less work than grading paper tests.

* * *

**A/N: **So... two years, huh? Sorry guys. Real life and what not. D:

But, here's another chapter to a story I'm sure many of you thought would never update! Yay! On the minus side I still need to finish the chapter for M:TABD.

Anyway! I hope you guys enjoyed the first exam. I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to work on chapter four of this little bit of insanity, as I will be working on finishing up the almost complete next chapter of Babysitting Itachi before going to work on M:TABD, but I promise I haven't forgotten it. Far from it.

Naruto and Sakura-muse are both really excited about this one and will not let me leave it alone. Sasuke and Gaara I think are excited but it's hard to tell with those two...

Thanks for reading!

-Py

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